Jessica Ennis’s lifelong coach, Toni Minichiello, has accused the leaders of
UK Athletics of a lack of respect and presiding over a “bullying culture”
after rejecting their offer of a reduced consultancy package instead of a
full-time job.

Standing up for himself: Toni Minichiello claims he was bullied by Eriksson's tough-talking predecessor, Charles van Commenee, and was no longer prepared to be pushed aroundPhoto: PA

Minichiello, who was voted 2012 UK coach of the year after guiding Ennis to a runaway heptathlon triumph at the London Olympics, was made redundant last month after his previous four-year contract expired.

Although he will continue to coach Ennis, he will now do so outside the UK Athletics system. He says he will be looking for other consultancy work beyond athletics and will also be discussing financial options with Ennis.

Minichiello was angered by recent public comments by the new head coach, Peter Eriksson when he called on Minichiello to “take it or leave it” over the new consultancy deal.

UK Athletics claims he was offered more money that his previous salary, but Minichiello insists the overall package was lower.

Minichiello said: “When somebody says something like, 'take it or leave it’, it says, 'You’re replaceable. What you’ve done doesn’t have that much value. What you do we can replace at any stage. We don’t really need you so, take it or leave it because we’ve got so many options’.”

Ennis first began working with Minichiello at the age of 13 at Sheffield’s Don Valley stadium and has said previously that she owes all of her success to his expertise.

But despite gaining a reputation as one of the world’s foremost combined events coaches, Minichiello claims he was bullied by Eriksson’s tough-talking predecessor, Charles van Commenee, and was no longer prepared to be pushed around.

He said: “I don’t what to be beaten up and I’m fed up with being bullied. I had four years of that.

“Fundamentally, the money doesn’t matter. For me, it’s not about the money and never has been about the money, it’s about how you operate and what value you bring to the sport and all the rest of it.

“I’m unique in that I’ve worked with someone from such a young age all the way to Olympic gold medallist. That’s incredibly rare. I’ve coached people to gold medals in winter and summer sports.

“Under Charles you weren’t allowed to challenge. That was seen as unprofessional. I think they’ve picked the wrong fat kid to bully. I’m not for bullying. It’s that kind of culture.”

Meanwhile, world indoor pole vault bronze medallist Holly Bleasdale continued her brilliant start to the season at the European Indoor trials in Sheffield when she claimed her fourth successive victory with a world-leading vault of 4.77 metres.

Asha Philip, whose career was almost ended by a serious knee injury after she won the world youth 100 metres title in 2007, showed she is back to her best with a scorching 60m victory in 7.15sec that puts her third on the all-time UK list and equal fifth in this year’s world rankings.

In the absence of the injured Dwain Chambers, James Dasaolu took the men’s 60m title in a lifetime best of 6.58sec.